The Government Shutdown Is Shutting Down Hemp Too

December 20, 2018
was a big old historic milestone for cannabis: the day President Trump signed
the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed for the federally legalized hemp cultivation
in the United States.

The only problem
was that just two days later another important legislative event occured: Trump
refused to sign the a federal spending bill from congress, effecting a federal
government shutdown.

In a government
shutdown, nonessential federal employees and services are put temporarily out
to pasture. And we’re afraid that nonessential services include giving farmers
the licenses to grow that hemp.

Until the federal government reopens for business—until
the U.S. Congress approves an appropriations bill—the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) is unable to approve state hemp program regulations and the
FBI is unable to conduct required background checks. This presents a problem
for prospective hemp farmers.

It has been
nearly two weeks since the shutdown began, and there’s still no clear
indication of when it will end. The House of Representatives approved a stopgap spending bill to end the
shutdown on Thursday.

However, there is
no provision in the spending bill to allocate funds for a wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border. And that, according to many political insiders, means the
bill will be dead in the water when it gets to the president’s desk.

Trump told
reporters on Wednesday that he’s willing to hold out on funding the government
“as long as it takes” to force House democrats into giving him money for the
wall. And Vice President Pence has echoed the sentiment on Fox News saying, “if
there’s no wall, there’s no deal.”

Meanwhile, the
shutdown could be forcing hemp farmers to stall there plans.

“It could keep
someone from getting their business underway,” Jack Wilbur, spokesman for the
Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, told KUTV.

Still, many see a
bright future for hemp in the U.S., even if its a little uncertain when that
future is going to come.

Stuart Titus, CEO
of the major hemp-derived CBD manufacturer Medical Marijuana Inc., has sourced
his hemp from Europe in the past, but his business looking to tap into U.S.
cultivation when the option becomes available.

“At this time,
obviously, now we’re looking to add on some U.S.-based production, and this is
quite exciting for us,” Titus told the Times. “We see as much as 60 million
acres of U.S. farmland [that] could be grown with hemp. For many farmers, it’s
a great rotational crop. … Hemp is very robust, very hearty.”